Abidan the Keeper

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Abidan the Keeper Skorne Exalted Immortal Character Solo

Some few immortals prove exceptional enough to earn esteemed recognition. In life, Abidan was a skilled warrior, though from a family of little standing. In death, he has won glory and honor denied him in life. He was shattered in a clash inside Ios, where he fought back to back with Hakaar the Destroyer. When the extollers recovered his sacral stone and the exalted ancestors spoke his praises, a new, more ornate form was granted him, and so he became the Keeper. Given a special place among the immortals, he fights to safeguard those around him, moving to intercept blows intended for his ancient companions.

Basic Info

Abidan the Keeper
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Warcaster 0 BASE Small SPD 5 STR 7 MAT 7 RAT N/A M.A. N/A DEF 11 ARM 17 CMD 10 ESSENCE {{{essence}}} FOCUS N/A FURY N/A THRS N/A HP 5 F. Field N/A WJP {{{wjp}}} WBP {{{wbp}}} IHP {{{ihp}}} FA C UNIT SIZE N/A COST 5 N/A N/A N/A Warcaster 1 COST N/A N/A Understanding the Statblock

Abilities

• Construct
• Flank [ Ancestral Guardian ] - When this model makes a melee attack against an enemy model in the melee range of a friendly Ancestral Guardian model, this model gains +2 to attack rolls and gains an additional damage die.
• Immortal Companion - If this model has been destroyed and not returned to play, during your Control Phase a friendly Ancestral Guardian can spend a soul token to return this model to play. Place this model anywhere completely within 2" of the Ancestral Guardian.
• Shield Guard - Once per round, when a friendly model is directly hit by a non-spray ranged attack during your opponent's turn while within 3" of this model, you can choose to have this model directly hit instead. This model is automatically hit and suffers all damage and effects. This model cannot use Shield Guard while it is incorporeal, knocked down, or stationary. The Shield Guard special rule can only trigger once per attack roll.
• Soul Vessel - This model generates soul tokens as if it were a living model.

Weapons

• Great Sword - 2" reach, POW 6, P+S 13 melee attack
  • Damage Type: Magical

Theme Forces

• The Exalted. Abidan the Keeper gains Immovable Object in this theme.

Recent Changes

No changes since 2021.10

Thoughts on the Abidan the Keeper

Abidan the Keeper in a nutshell

Abidan is a companion type model that is meant to protect an important piece of your army. Flank makes him being much better at killing heavies than other Exalted solos - and more importantly he's a shield guard who keeps coming back into play. Currently in competitive Exalted lists Abidan is normally taken in preference to a second Ancestral Guardian.

Combos & Synergies

• Ancestral Guardian - can return Abidan to play, provides Abidan with a speed boost from Resonance, and Abidan flanks with one.
• Hakaar - flanks with Abidan, can resurrect him with a soul and gets to move and attack off of his death.
• Supreme Guardian - flanks with Abidan and really appreciates having a shield guard around.
• Zaal, the Ancestral Advocate gives him extra ARM with his feat.
• Supreme Aptimus Zaal & Kovaas can keep handing out souls to his guardians to bring Abidan back again and again.

Drawbacks & downsides

• Like most recursion he's utterly hosed by remove from play effects. That said there aren't too many of these on shooting effects, which are the most likely thing to destroy him.
• He costs almost as much as 4 Immortal grunts and his stats are pretty similar to the base unit.

Tricks & Tips

• Abidan is soul-neutral; he generates a soul and then costs one when returned to play.
• You can sometimes do things with order of activation to get that soul back to the Guardian.
• He can be returned to play by not only a normal Ancestral Guardian, but by a Supreme Guardian or Hakaar the Destroyer too.

Other

Trivia

• Released in the Exalted Expansion (2019.01)

Other Skorne models

Skorne Index       (Edit)
Battlegroup & Similar
Warlocks	Hexeris1 - Hexeris2 - Jalaam1 - Makeda1 - Makeda2 - Makeda3 - Mordikaar1 - Morghoul1 - Morghoul2 - Morghoul3 - Naaresh1 - Rasheth1 - Xekaar1 - Xerxis1 - Xerxis2 - Zaal1 - Zaal2 - Zaadesh2
Lessers & Attachments	Aptimus Marketh (Warlock attachment) - Zaadesh1 (Lesser Warlock) - Makeda0 (Lesser Warlock)
Lesser	Agonizer - Aradus Scarab - Reptile Hounds - The Terrorizer
Light	Basilisk Drake - Basilisk Krea - Cyclops Brute - Cyclops Raider - Cyclops Savage - Cyclops Shaman - Razor Worm
Heavy	Aradus Sentinel - Aradus Soldier - Archidon - Chiron - Bronzeback Titan - Despoiler - Molik Karn - Rhinodon - Tiberion - Titan Cannoneer - Titan Gladiator - Titan Sentry
Gargantuans	Desert Hydra - Mammoth
Units, Solos, & Battle Engines
Units	Cataphract Arcuarii - Cataphract Cetrati - Cataphract Incindiarii - Immortals - Legends of Halaak - Nihilators - Paingiver Beast Handlers - Paingiver Bloodrunners - Praetorian Ferox - Praetorian Karax - Praetorian Keltarii - Praetorian Swordsmen - Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer - Venator Catapult Crew - Venator Flayer Cannon Crew - Venator Reivers - Venator Slingers
Solos	Abidan the Keeper - Ancestral Guardian - Aptimus Marketh - Extoller Novitiate - Extoller Soulward - Hakaar the Destroyer - Immortal Vessel - Makeda0 - Mortitheurge Willbreaker - Paingiver Bloodrunner Master Tormentor - Paingiver Task Master - Tyrant Rhadeim - Venator Dakar - Void Spirit - Zaadesh1
Battle Engines	Siege Animantarax - Supreme Guardian
Theme Forces
Disciples of Agony - Masters of War - The Exalted - Winds of Death
Minions
Refer to Who Works for Whom and/or Category: Skorne Minion
This index was last updated: 2021.11

Rules Clarifications

Rules Clarification : Construct - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Flank      (Edit) You can gain the Flank bonus vs knocked down/stationary models (refer to the latest Errata). Melee range is measured from your front arc so you cannot trigger Flank on models in your back arc. The target enemy doesn't need to be in the Flanker's LOS, just their melee range. Most of the time if something is in your melee range then it is so close it's in your LOS too, and the difference is meaningless. But if you have 2" reach and you're jammed up in B2B with a bunch of closely-spaced enemies, you'll find your LOS is blocked. In this case, you might be able to trigger Flank on an enemy model that is "hiding" behind that front row of jammers, even though you don't have LOS to it. Flank is not tied to a specific weapon, so Mount attacks and Power Attacks can benefit as well. If you have two sources of Flank they are still giving you the bonus from the Flank rule so do not stack. (Infernal Ruling) If the target moves in/out of the Flanker's melee range between the attack roll and the damage roll (for instance if you throw it) then you need to reassess whether you get the Flank bonus for the damage roll. (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Immortal Companion      (Edit) Abidan returns at full health and can activate normally that turn. He can return multiple times a game, I think...

Rules Clarification : Shield Guard and/or Shadow Guardian     (Edit) You can't use this ability vs spells. You shift all effects onto the new model, including stuff that triggers on "when this attack hits". When you use this ability vs an AOE attack, the template moves too. Because, with reference to Apdx A, the hit 'moves' at Step 6 and the template placement is determined at Step 7. This ability doesn't work vs Point Blank attacks. Because Point Blank attacks are melee attacks that are made using a ranged weapon. On the other hand, it will work vs Gunfighter attacks. Shield Guard only Since Shield Guard specifies "opponent's turn", it can't be used against stuff that shoots in your own turn (such as Watcher or Counterblast). The Shield Guard does not necessarily need to be in the attacker's LOS or range. The Shield Guarder is always hit even if they have an ability that makes them automatically get missed, such as Stealth. (Automatically missing is determined earlier in the timing sequence than the Shield Guard moving the hit.) (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Soul Vessel      (Edit) The only thing the Soul Vessel rules does is, the model produces a soul when it is destroyed as if it were a living model. For similar logic, things that prevent living models from generating souls (such as Annihilator) also prevent Soul Vessels from generating souls. (Infernal Ruling) A Soul Vessel is not a living model for the purposes of anything except soul generation & collection. Special rules that interact with living models but which aren't soul-related (such as Bloodthirst or Poison) don't do anything vs Soul Vessels. For example: An attack that RFPs living models (such as Snacking) would normally prevent that living model from generating a soul token; but Snacking doesn't work vs non-living. So a Soul Vessel doesn't get Snacked and will produce a soul token.

Rules Clarification:  : Magical Damage      (Edit) (Click Expand to read)

* The "Damage Type: Magical" is not inherited by "secondary" damage from a weapon. That is, stuff like arcs (Electro Leap) or hazards (Scather). (Infernal Ruling) All spells have "Damage Type: Magical" (refer errata). This is inherited by "immediate" secondary damage (such as Eruption of Spines). (Infernal Ruling) and might be inherited by "lingering" secondary damage (see below). If a spell leaves a template in play that does damage to models that walk around in it, then: if it is not described as a hazard it will do magical damage to models that walk around in it. (Example: Razor Wall) if it is a hazard then it will not do magical damage to models that walk around in it. Instead, it does whatever damage type is specified by the spell description. (Example: Breath of Corruption). (Infernal Ruling) If a weapon/spell includes Magic Damage and another kind of elemental damage it will still damage Incorporeal models. Incorporeal models are not affected by the rule "if an attack does multiple types of damage and a model is immune to at least one it is immune to the entire attack." The phrase "immune to non-magical damage" should be interpreted as "immune to damage that doesn't include Damage Type: Magical" (not interpreted as "has immunity to Corrosion and Electricity and Cold and etc.")